Liquid dispensing system



R. v. HANSEN 3,140,012 LIQUID DISPENSING SYSTEM July 7, 1964 Filed Jan.9, 1961 1 FULL EMPTY 2 6 Com EJECTOR *L u 4 1 /SPRme b 32 521L126 23 sms33 3.30

INVENTOR. ROBERT V. HANSEN Fig. I H M w ATTORNEY United States Patent3,140,012 LIQUID DISPENSING SYSTEM Robert V. Hansen, Scottsdale, Ariz.,assignor to Controls Company of America, Schiller Park, Ill., acorporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 9, 1961, Ser. No. 81,438 Claims. (Cl.222-63) This application relates to coin operated liquid dispensingdevices and particularly to a vending system for dispensing liquids froma number of containers in sequence.

Without going into a great deal of detail due to the complexity of theart, suffice it to say that all systems known to me have one or more ofthe following shortcomings: (l) dispensing of a short measure at thetime of transfer, (2) necessity of shuffling of containers at the timeof servicing, (3) adversely affected by power failures, and (4) noassurance that container first in will be the container which isdispensed first.

The primary object of this invention is to overcome all of the foregoingdisadvantages by means of a control system which is simple and reliablein operation and requires a minimum of technical knowledge on the partof the serviceman.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparentfrom, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of thesingle embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a twin can system commonly used for dispensing liquids; and

FIG. 2 shows the circuit diagram for the system shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, a twin dispenser unit is shown in whichcontainers 9, are connected to a common dispensing line 14 through pumps11 and 12. The pressure of the liquid within the containers is utilizedby pressure switches 15 and 16 connected to valves 20 located at thelowest point in the curved bottom 21 of the container. The switches areresponsive to the pressure in air traps 17 and 18 connected in the linebetween the switches and the valves and control the operation of thepumps. Any other suitable means may be used to sense and respond to thelevel of the liquid in the containers.

As seen in FIG. 2, the pressure switches 15, 16 are connected inparallel with each other and in series with solenoid actuated coinrejector 26 across the line L1, L2. When the containers are full,switches 15 and 16 will be closed with contacts 40 and 44 completing thecircuit through the coin rejector. When both containers are empty,contacts 40 and 44 will be open deenergizing the coin rejector so thatcoins inserted in the machine will be returned.

The pumps 11, 12 are also connected in parallel with each other and inseries (through switches 36, 38) with timer 48, which controls the pumpoperating time each time a coin is dropped into the machine to dispensea single portion of liquid. It should be understood that any suitablemeans may be used to dispense liquid from the containers, such asgravity flow through an electrically controlled valve. Switches 36 and38, secured to armature 23 in coil 24, are connected in series withpumps 11 and 12, respectively, to separately energize the pumps inresponse to the position of the armature. The coil is connected tocontact 42 in pressure switch 15, and when container 9 is full, contact42 will be open and the coil will be deenergized with armature 23normally biased to the right by conventional means (not shown). Switch36, therefore, will normally be closed so that pump 11 will operate whena coin is inserted in the machine to start the timer. When container 9is empty, contact 42 will close and coil 24 will be energized, closingswitch 38 and opening switch 36 so that pump 12 will now be operative. Athird switch 34, also closed by the movement of the armature, completesa circuit including signal light 25 to contact 46. Liquid will now bedispensed from container 10. When container 10 is empty, contact 46 willbe closed completing the circuit through the signal light 25, indicatingthat the machine is empty. Coin rejector solenoid 26 will now bedeenergized, returning any coins which may be inserted into the machine.

If container 9 is emptied after only a part of a portion has beendispensed, switch 15 will close with contact 42 energizing coil 24.Armature 23 will move to the left, opening switch 36 and closing switch38 and energizing pump 12. Since each portion dispensed is controlled bytimer 48, pump 12 will continue to dispense liquid until a full portionis dispensed. The time lost in transfer, though only momentary, will notaffect the portion dispensed, since the timer will be deenergized whenswitch 36 is opened and reenergized when switch 38 is closed.

If transfer has been made from container 9 to container 10 and container9 is replaced by a full container, switch 15 will move from contact 42to contact 40, deenergizing coil 24. Normally armature 23 would move tothe right closing switch 36 and energizing pump 11. To prevent armature23 from moving after container 9 has been refilled, locking device 50 ispositioned to block the path of the armature. This device includes apair of latching bars 30 and 32 pivoted at 31 and 33. Bar 32 isconnected to armature 23 and bar 30 is connected to armature 21 in coil22 which is connected to contact 46. Armature 21 is normally biased tothe left in a conventional manner (not shown). The ends 52 and 54 of thelatching bars are bent over slightly so that bar 32 will preventcounterclockwise rotation of bar 30 and bar 30 will prevent clockwiserotation of bar 32 when the end of one of the bars is positioned underthe end of the other bar. Spring 28 is connected between the latchingbars so that the motion of either one of the bars will cause the otherbar to follow.

As seen in FIG. 2, with both containers filled and switch 36 closed,pump 11 will be energized when liquid is to be dispensed. When container9 is emptied, pressure switch 15 will close with contact 42 energizingcoil 24 moving armature 23 to the left to close switches 38 and 34.Latching bar 32 will rotate counterclockwise and latching bar 30 willfollow due to the bias of spring 28. It can be seen that end 52 on bar32 will be pulled out from under end 54 of bar 30, which will be pulledunder end 52 of bar 32. If coil 24 is deenergized by replacing container9 with a full container, the armature would normally move to the rightbut it will now be blocked by the end 54 of bar 30 positioned under theend 52 of bar 32. Switch 38 will remain closed and liquid will continueto be dispensed from container 10. When container 10 is empty, switch 16will close with contact 46 energizing coil 22 moving armature 21 to theright. Latching bar 30 will be rotated clockwise moving end 54 out fromunder the end 52 of latching bar 32. Since coil 24 has been deenergized,armature 23 will move to the right closing switch 36 so that liquid willbe dispensed from container 9. If this transfer is made while liquid isbeing dispensed from container 10, pump 11 will continue to dispenseuntil timer 48 stops. This switching back arrangement was not availablein prior systems, making it necessary to rearrange the containers eachtime the dispenser was serviced.

When both containers have been emptied, both coils 22 and 24 will beenergized, with the armatures 21 and 23 moving to the right and leftrespectively, and switch 34 being closed to energize the signal light.In the event of a power failure, the electrical system will remain inthe position it was in, since the locking device will hold the armatures21 and 23 in position.

With this arrangement, each container will be emptied before the systemtransfers to the other container. The transfer can be made while aportion is being dispensed, further assuring that a minimum of liquidremains in the container. It is also possible to replace eithercontainer while liquid is being dispensed from the other. In the eventthat the power should be shut off, the circuit would not be affected,since the solenoids are blocked from any movement by the upper ends ofthe latching bars, thus assuring that each container is emptied beforedispensing is started in the other container.

Although but a single embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that various changes and modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising, a pair of liquidcontainers, a liquid dispensing pump in each container, electricalcircuit means for energizing the pumps, a timer connected to the circuitmeans and to the pumps to control the duration of operation of the pumpsto dispense a predetermined quantity of liquid each time the timer isactuated, electric switch means connecting the timer to the pumps sothat only one pump will be energized when the timer is actuated, sensingmeans in the containers for indicating the quantity of liquid in thecontainers and connected in the circuit to deenergize the system whenboth containers are empty, one of said sensing means controlling theswitch means to transfer the timer from one pump to the other when thecontainer being dispensed is empty, the timer continuing to operateafter transfer until a full portion has been dispensed.

2. A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising, a pair of liquidcontainers, dispensing means operatively connected to each container,pressure switch means connected to each container to indicate thequantity of liquid in each container, electric circuit means connectingeach indicating means to the dispensing means and including timer meansto control the interval of operation of the dispensing means, electrictransfer switch means connected to one of the pressure switch means tocontrol the energizing of the dispensing means so that one container isemptied before dispensing from the other container can occur, andholding means unaffected by continuity of electric supply and responsiveto the other pressure switch means to hold the transfer means in oneposition until the container being dispensed is empty.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said holding means isconstructed and arranged to prevent the transfer of dispensing eventhough the container which is emptied first is replaced by a fullcontainer.

4. A liquid dispensing apparatus having a number of replaceable liquidcontainers comprising, dispensing means connected to each container,timer means connected to control the interval of operation of saiddispensing means, responsive means connected to each container andoperative to respond to the container being empty, electrical switchmeans connected to said responsive means and the dispensing means totransfer the operation of said dispensing means to another containerwhen said responsive means indicates that the container is empty, andlocking means including a pair of latch bars each pivoted at one end andbent at the other to block motion of the bars toward each other formaintaining the operative relation of said responsive means and saiddispensing means until the container being dispensed is empty.

5. A liquid dispensing apparatus comprising, first and second liquidcontainers, liquid dispensing means for each of said containers, timingmeans operative to control the duration of operation of said liquiddispensing means to dispense predetermined quantities of liquid eachtime said timing means is actuated, switch means selectively connectingsaid timing means to only one of said dispensing means at a time andoperative to switch control of said timing means between said dispensingmeans and also operative to control energiza'tion of said timing meansso that said timing means is de-energized when said switch means istransferring control of said timing means from one container to another,and means connected with said switch means and operative to sense thequantity of liquid in said containers and, when the container beingdispensed is emptied, to transfer control of said timing means from onedispensing means to another, said timing means being de-energized duringsaid transfer and continuing to operate after said transfer until saidpredetermined quantity is dispensed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,409,245 Black Oct. 15, 1946 2,669,941 Stafford Feb. 23, 1954 2,870,941Steidley Jan. 27, 1959

5. A LIQUID DISPENSING APPARATUS COMPRISING, FIRST AND SECOND LIQUIDCONTAINERS, LIQUID DISPENSING MEANS FOR EACH OF SAID CONTAINERS, TIMINGMEANS OPERATIVE TO CONTROL THE DURATION OF OPERATION OF SAID LIQUIDDISPENSING MEANS TO DISPENSE PREDETERMINED QUANTITIES OF LIQUID EACHTIME SAID TIMING MEANS IS ACTUATED, SWITCH MEANS SELECTIVELY CONNECTINGSAID TIMING MEANS TO ONLY ONE OF SAID DISPENSING MEANS AT A TIME ANDOPERATIVE TO SWITCH CONTROL OF SAID TIMING MEANS BETWEEN SAID DISPENSINGMEANS AND ALSO OPERATIVE TO CONTROL ENERGIZATION OF SAID TIMING MEANS SOTHAT SAID TIMING MEANS IS DE-ENERGIZED WHEN SAID SWITCH MEANS ISTRANSFERRING CONTROL OF SAID TIMING MEANS FROM ONE CONTAINER TO ANOTHER,AND MEANS CONNECTED WITH SAID SWITCH MEANS AND OPERATIVE TO SENSE THEQUANTITY OF LIQUID IN SAID CONTAINERS AND, WHEN THE CONTAINER BEINGDISPENSED IS EMPTIED, TO TRANSFER CONTROL OF SAID TIMING MEANS FROM ONEDISPENSING MEANS TO ANOTHER, SAID TIMING MEANS BEING DE-ENERGIZED DURINGSAID TRANSFER AND CONTINUING TO OPERATE AFTER SAID TRANSFER UNTIL SAIDPREDETERMINED QUANTITY IS DISPENSED.